First Unum Life Insurance Company and Unum Group Corporation, face a lawsuit alleging that the defendant had failed to pay Long-Term Disability, or LTD, under an employee’s benefits plan.

Unum Life Insurance Company is the subsidiary of Unum Group Corporation.

According to the disability insurance benefits lawsuit, plaintiff Ramadevi A., resident of New Jersey, files the lawsuit in Tennessee federal court, accusing the insurance company of violations of the Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or ERISA.

Ramedevi, according to her disability insurance benefits lawsuit,  had formerly worked for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Allegedly, Unum is the “party obligated to pay benefits and to determine eligibility for LTD benefits under the plan” at Kettering, the insurance benefits lawsuit states.

The disability insurance lawsuit also maintains that “Unum Group exercises significant control over the policies and actions of defendant Unum Life.” Additionally, “defendant Unum Group is the employer of all persons who acted on behalf of Unum Life.”

Plaintiff’s Claims Regarding the Disability Insurance Benefits Lawsuit

According to the disability insurance benefits lawsuit, Ramadevi had worked for Memorial Sloan as a nurse practitioner. Memorial Sloan was reportedly carrying an LTD benefits plan for its employees that was allegedly funded by Unum Life.

Ramadevi became disabled and ceased to work on June 8, 2015, but was covered by an LTD benefits plan through Memorial.

According to the disability insurance benefits lawsuit, the plaintiff has “been and continues to be disabled as defined by the provisions of the plan.”

Ramadevi’s disability insurance benefits lawsuit maintains that the defendant had made payments towards the plaintiff’s Short-Term Disability, or STD, between June 15, 2015 and Dec. 5, 2015. Payments were then made towards the plaintiff’s long-term disability insurance on Dec. 5, 2015.

According to the disability insurance benefits lawsuit, however, it maintains that, “by letter dated March 4th, 2016, defendants denied plaintiff’s claim for ongoing LTD beyond Dec. 22, 2015, stating that she could perform her own occupation despite her medical condition.”

Ramadevi appealed, but the defendants denied it.

Accordingly, her disability insurance benefits lawsuit maintains that in a letter dated September 23, 2016, the plaintiff alleges that she had, “exhausted her administrative remedies and had a right to bring a lawsuit under ERISA 502(a) to challenge the denial of her benefits.”

The lawsuit claims that because the benefits would have had to been paid out from their own pockets, they operate under a “perpetual conflict of interest.” Ramadevi claims the defendants “allowed their concern over their own funds to influence their decision-making.”

According to the disability insurance benefits lawsuit, Unum Life Insurance Company violated ERISA, specifically by failing to give the plaintiff a reasonable and just review of the claim. The lawsuit states that  “the defendants’ decision-making process violated the terms of the applicable ERISA Plans and ERISA law and regulations.”

The Disability Insurance Benefits Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-00169-HSM-SKL, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Chattanooga Division.